Out of passion and loneliness
by Cassie Studios
Summary: Vegeta and Bulma are living under the same roof. For a long time nothing happens, but finally something pushes them together. This fic tries to explain how it may have happened. Vegeta/Bulma.


**A/N: **Hello after a long break. This time I decided to do something DBZ, because I love that anime and Vegeta was my first anime crush. This fic is something that I came up with after having read somewhere that Vegeta and Bulma's relationship was born "out of passion and loneliness". This fic explains the meaning of this phrase and is an attempt to guess what could have happened between the two and how it all started.

Enjoy.

* * *

**Out of passion and loneliness**

After long years of a bumpy relationship, she broke up with Yamcha.

It's been a while since she was that silly teenager that wanted to have a perfect boyfriend. Over the course of time, she came to realize that boys were rarely perfect and also, that a girl like her could survive on her own, without a man by her side. She loved Yamcha and he was a good boyfriend… most of the time. She knew he loved her very much, however it did not stop him from ogling teenage girls in miniskirts every time they were around. He and old Roshi surely formed a good team. Bulma just got tired of this, of Yamcha's eyes constantly darting to attractive women in the neighborhood. And most of all… she just didn't love him as much as she used to.

The feeling had been dying slowly, but surely. Yamcha did not spark in her the same excitement that he did before. That, combined with his "visual unfaithfulness," provided her with two options: either break up with him or stay, knowing for the rest of her life that this wasn't the man she should be with.

There was also the matter of her new housemate. Any normal woman would be attracted to Vegeta… if she liked rough, dominating, rude and extremely proud men, that is. Bulma thought that her problem was that she liked to be challenged. And Vegeta _was_ a challenge. She wasn't afraid of him anymore. Now he lived under her roof and she had taken to ordering him around, even if he did not take it well. She did not fear being blown up though; Vegeta would usually frown, grunt, occasionally throw an insult at her and ignore her comments. It did not matter. He was freakishly hot and provided something that Yamcha could not: fun, challenge and that special spark that sufficed to make her watch him with interest out of the corner of her eye every time he walked around the house. Especially that he usually walked around half-naked.

It wasn't that she cared only about his looks and sex appeal. She cared about _him_ as well. True, he used to be an enemy, but really, who didn't? And now that he was willing to help save the Earth from the androids and was living in the same house, she grew fond of him. She hated to see him train too much and hurt himself. Not that she wanted to play his mother, but for God's sake, why would anyone do this to themselves? She felt like sometimes she really had much more common sense than he did, so she took the liberty of scolding him every time he did something stupid. Sometimes men could be really dumb.

She knew she could fall for him easily. She wasn't in love with him… yet. And she realized that falling in love with Vegeta would be the most stupid thing she could ever do. But it didn't hurt to fantasize just a bit… She tried to take care of him anyway, so why not to indulge her imagination. Just a bit.

* * *

Vegeta knew that Bulma and Yamcha broke up. He accidentally overheard a conversation between the girl and her mother. Not that he cared. The only thing on his mind was his training and some petty love problems of the people around him could not be less relevant.

He did admit to himself, though, that the girl did not go well with that Yamcha guy and he was somewhat surprised she didn't dump him earlier. She had a strong personality and he was such a weakling. What kept them together was beyond Vegeta's guess. He never really thought about it, but presented with the question now, he could not find the answer.

Bulma was, in her own way, intriguing. And strong, though he preferred the term "foul mouthed." Always talking back to him. Not caring that he could kill her on the spot, apparently. He probably wouldn't do that (after all, what would that accomplish?), but it surely took some guts to talk back to the Prince of Saiya.

Insolent bitch.

But she cared. Vegeta somewhat sensed it from the day she invited him to stay at her house and could not deny it anymore from the day she had fallen asleep at his bedside. She cared about him and probably tried to make him care more about himself as well. Normally this wouldn't matter, but she was so persistent in her actions that he just couldn't ignore it. It's been over a year since he moved in with the Briefs and she still would remind him to get enough rest between his training sessions and occasionally glance all over his body to ensure he did not hurt himself and was ignoring the wound to train even more.

Sometimes she acted somewhat affectionate towards him and he almost suspected that she was in fact attracted to him. Almost, because he never gave it much thought. His mind was occupied with entirely different things and only Bulma's appreciative looks and worried words reminded him that he might be her next romantic target.

Not that he did not appreciate her sex appeal. She was beautiful, with perfect curves and slender body. Her boldness and self-confidence only added to her attractiveness. Vegeta never thought much about women, but he supposed that he could be attracted to a strong woman like Bulma. Of course, Bulma was far too emotional to be his mate, he preferred someone closer to him as concerns personality, but he still appreciated her courage and the fact that she always stood her ground. And sometimes, when she wore particularly tight tops or particularly revealing shorts, he _almost_ thought he could do her and not regret it afterwards. He obviously could not return her affection, or whatever it was that she felt for him, but sex with a challenging woman like Bulma seemed to be a very nice perspective, especially that from the looks of things, she was willing to give herself up to him if he only wanted. And he _almost _wanted.

Almost.

* * *

So, no. She couldn't go through this breakup undamaged.

On the one hand, she didn't want to prolog her damaged relationship with Yamcha, but she felt so lonely without him… He wouldn't call anymore, wouldn't drop in to say "hi," wouldn't invite her for a date… Well, obviously he wouldn't, she reminded herself. They broke up. She was the one to end it, but it didn't make it easier for her to handle the situation.

On the other hand, her mind subconsciously seemed to have moved its attention from Yamcha to Vegeta, now being occupied with the latter entirely. She somehow assumed that freeing herself from Yamcha would make her perfectly available for Vegeta and (for no sane reason whatsoever) that Vegeta would notice that and make a move. When she thought about it, it made no sense at all and she could not believe she ever hoped for it to be true. Vegeta was a fight-obsessed Saiyajin, whose only goal in life was to defeat Goku. To expect him to care about romance or women was just as stupid as… well, no, nothing reached the same level of stupidity as this one.

And she didn't expect it! She really didn't! It's just that every day that passed without anything happening was depressing and annoying her even more. She broke up with her boyfriend, a boyfriend with whom she had been for good ten years. As if this wasn't unpleasant enough, no one was interested in her at the moment. And she was interested in a guy who was the least possible person to return her feelings.

Well, "feelings." Big word. She didn't love him and did not expect love. She just really could use a man right now, and the fact that one was available but simply not interested frustrated the hell out of her.

* * *

That evening they got into a fight. Laundry, such a petty thing. Like he really expected her household to store varied and stylish clothing for young men, when there was no such need considering the members of the Brief family.

The fight was long and heated, sprinkled with occasional insults here and there, Bulma's desperate trying to hold back tears of frustration and Vegeta's desperate trying not to blow the damn woman and her house up.

Finally, after an hour of constant shouting at one another, Vegeta squeezed the pink shirt into a ball and threw it at Bulma.

"You can take that back! I'm done wearing this!"

"Fine!" she yelled, though the force of the throw deprived her of breath for a split second as the shirt hit her chest. "I already told you, you can just walk around naked, for all that I care! It's just your stupid conviction that pink is only for girls!"

"Isn't it? Did your idiot wear pink too?"

That hit a nerve, and though she tried not to let it show, Vegeta felt satisfaction at the way her teeth and fists clenched.

"For your information, he did! And I thought you didn't care to be compared to others!"

"I never said I do! And for God's sake, woman, stop venting your frustration out on me! It's even worse than when you were with that moron!"

Bulma almost blew up with anger. "And what is that supposed to mean?!"

Vegeta shot her a contemptuous look. "Gather yourself together, woman. You're pathetic."

He was still furious, but saw no point in arguing any further. He told her what he wanted. As he started walking away, he heard a loud gasp from behind.

"Yeah, sure, walk out on me!" Bulma's frustration reached the epitome. How could she so desperately need a guy and be so thoroughly ignored by the only appropriate male in the area?! "The easiest way, ignore everything and just walk out! Ignore me!"

Vegeta stopped, surprised by the course of conversation, and turned around.

"What's your problem, woman?!"

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" She shrugged theatrically, looking at the ceiling. "You've been here for over a year and you noticed nothing!"

That was one of the few times Vegeta stopped frowning. Instead, his jaw dropped slightly open at this incomprehensible comment.

"Wha…"

"I'm a girl, you know! You could _at least _treat me nicer if apparently you can not do anything else!"

Oh, so that was it. Raging hormones.

"Listen, woman!" He took a few steps towards her and lowered his voice. Somehow, this wasn't something he wanted to shout about for the whole neighborhood to hear. "If you're not getting enough sex, then do something about it, but don't pretend it's my problem because it's not! Solve it yourself!"

"Really!" She asked sarcastically. "You've been living under the same roof with a super attractive woman and you've never given it a single thought?!"

Of course he did.

"No. Not once."

"I don't believe you."

"Believe what you want. I'm out of here. And for the last time, fix my wardrobe or I'll tear to shreds every pink thing that I find in this house."

He motioned for the door once again and once again was stopped by the girl.

"Vegeta."

Her voice was calmer, though it held some suppressed passion.

"Look at me."

Vegeta rolled his eyes but after thinking for a couple of seconds he slowly turned around. Bulma was gripping the pink shirt tightly in one hand. Her breathing was heavy but steady.

"You can just go on ignoring me and walk out on me now," she said quietly with strange determination. Then she walked up to him, stopping only inches before his chest. With surprising force she threw the shirt down onto the floor and looked him in the eye. "Or… you could be a man."

Then she just stood there, waiting for his response. Vegeta didn't move, only his usual frown seemed to be deeper. For almost half a minute everything was still.

Finally, Vegeta started moving back, but Bulma firmly grabbed the front of his shirt, preventing him from going farther. She could see he had hesitated. This gave her the courage.

He looked at her small wrist against his chest and back into her eyes.

"Don't play with me, woman," he warned quietly.

She did not respond, neither did she release his shirt. She still looked determined.

Then Vegeta slammed her against the opposite wall, quite lightly for him (she was a human female after all), but she still felt the force. Pinning her wrists on both sides of her head, he looked at her as if asking: _"Is this what you want?"_

One look at him and one thought about the position they were in and she knew the answer. She said nothing, but looked him in the eye and he saw the fire in her gaze.

And that fire made him realize that he wanted it too.

They just stood there for a while, not moving at all, although the air between them was heavy with unresolved tension. Finally Bulma gently wriggled her arms. Vegeta released her wrists to see what she would do and rested his palms back against the wall. He still dominated her and she still looked defenseless, but her gaze was hard. She lifted one hand to touch his torso under the shirt and after a few seconds she did the same with the other hand. Vegeta felt the warmth as she moved her palms to caress every inch of his skin and tried to steady his breath. Bulma wasn't looking at him. She took a step forward, her mouth slightly open, and inhaled his scent. One of her hands slowly dropped to undo his pants and that did it for him.

He moved and suddenly she was back against the wall, his arms holding her close and his hands wandering all over her body. He wasted no time: one of his palms slid from her back into her pants and the other squeezed her breast through the top she was wearing. Bulma almost moaned, but remembered that her parents were downstairs and refrained herself, the result being a strange short sound that escaped her mouth. Vegeta thought that maybe he was hurting her and it was a cry of pain, but he didn't care. She wanted it herself.

A few moments later they were on the floor, Vegeta leaning over Bulma and throwing away every piece of clothing that she had on herself. Their eyes never met, but they were thinking the same thing. This was what he wanted. This was what she craved for. This was the woman he would take and be glad about it. This was the man who set her body on fire and it felt great. Hands on skin, rush of blood, she under him and he over her, and all the movements and the small sounds, everything that they waited for and that finally happened. His breath on her breasts, his hips between her thighs, her body arched in pleasure. All the cries and all the noises. His palms on her sides and her legs around his waist. The heat, the sweat, the beating of the heart. Her trembling hands, his quickened pace, the shortened breath and finally, the satisfaction that washed over both of them.

Only when their breathing had returned to normal did they look into each other's eyes. Neither of them saw regret or shame. Instead there was relief and strange calmness, like this was _supposed_ to happen. Like this was the most natural thing in the whole universe.

Vegeta pushed himself away from her and stood up to put his clothes back on. She just watched him from the floor, feeling much more tired than he did. Neither of them said a word.

Vegeta dressed himself and took Bulma's top that was lying on the sofa where he threw it earlier. He turned around to look at her, still with that same calmness, and threw her the top in a gesture that could almost pass as friendly. She caught it and watched him walk away. Her lips formed a small smile when on his way out of the room he picked up the abandoned pink shirt and took it with him. This meant truce. And truce meant that tonight she had to go to bed in really hot underwear and leave her bedroom door open.

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**A/N:** Thank you for reading and please review.


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